Henry Samuel Priest (February 7, 1853 – July 9, 1930) was a

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the United States federal judiciary, U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each United States federal judicial district, federal judicial district, which each cover o ...

of the

United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri (in case citations, E.D. Mo.) is a trial level federal district court based in St. Louis, Missouri, with jurisdiction over fifty counties in the eastern half of Missouri. Th ...

Education and career

Born in Ralls County,

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

, Priest received an

Artium Baccalaureus Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree from Westminster College in 1872. He

read law Reading law was the method used in common law countries, particularly the United States, for people to prepare for and enter the legal profession before the advent of law schools. It consisted of an extended internship or apprenticeship under the ...

in 1873 and entered private practice in Moberly, Missouri. There he served as city attorney, and was an attorney for the

Missouri Pacific Railroad The Missouri Pacific Railroad , commonly abbreviated as MoPac, was one of the first railroads in the United States west of the Mississippi River. MoPac was a Class I railroad growing from dozens of predecessors and mergers. In 1967, the railroad ...

and

Wabash Railroad The Wabash Railroad was a Class I railroad that operated in the mid-central United States. It served a large area, including track in the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, and Missouri and the province of Ontario. Its primary con ...

from 1881 to 1894.

Federal judicial service

On August 6, 1894, President

Grover Cleveland Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837June 24, 1908) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd and 24th president of the United States from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. Cleveland is the only president in American ...

nominated Priest to the

, to a seat vacated by Judge

Amos Madden Thayer Amos Madden Thayer (October 10, 1841 – April 24, 1905) was a United States federal judge, United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit and of the United States circuit court, United States Circuit Cour ...

. He was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

on August 9, 1894, and received his commission the same day. Priest served for less than a year, and then resigned on May 23, 1895.

Later career and death

Following his resignation from the federal bench, Priest resumed private practice in St. Louis, Missouri. He was a candidate for the

from Missouri in 1920, but did not win election. He ran an unsuccessful campaign for Governor of Missouri in 1924. He died in St. Louis on July 9, 1930.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Priest, Henry Samuel 1853 births 1930 deaths Judges of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri United States federal judges appointed by Grover Cleveland 19th-century American judges Westminster College (Missouri) alumni United States federal judges admitted to the practice of law by reading law People from Ralls County, Missouri People from Moberly, Missouri